BYU track: men’s program ranks No. 9 in Program of the Year standings, women’s program No. 12

(Left to right) Kristi Rush-Briggs, Madelyn Dickson, Brenna Porter and Ashleigh Warner hold their trophies after earning first-team All-America honors in the DMR at the 2018 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships.

The USTFCCCA ranked BYU’s men’s track and cross-country program No. 9 and the women’s program No. 12 in the updated standings for the NCAA Division I Program of the Year Award.

The USTFCCCA Program of the Year Award honors the institution that has achieved the most success in each academic year (spanning the cross-country, indoor track and field, and outdoor track and field seasons) based on the institution’s finish at the NCAA Championships.

The men’s program sits in ninth in the men’s Program of the Year standings with a total of 37.5 points. The Cougars capped off a very successful cross-country season with a third-place finish at the NCAA Cross Country Championships where three All-Americans—Casey Clinger, Connor McMillan and Rory Linkletter—finished in the top 40 for BYU. All-Americans Linkletter and Abraham Alvarado helped the Cougars finish tied for 34th at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships.

The women’s program is currently ranked 12th in the women’s Program of the Year standings with a total of 58.5 points. Courtney Wayment-Smith, Kristi Rush-Briggs and Laura Young Bluth led BYU to an 11th-place finish at the NCAA Cross Country Championships. The women’s DMR team and Whittni Orton earned first-team All-America honors at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships where the Cougars finished tied for 45th.

The USTFCCCA also released the official NCAA Division I All-America teams from the indoor track and field season and 10 Cougars earned the national honors based on their performances at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships.

Alvarado finished fifth in the 800m and Linkletter finished sixth in the 5,000m to earn first-team All-America honors. Orton finished seventh in the mile and the women’s DMR team, which consisted of Rush-Briggs Ashleigh Warner, Brenna Porter and Madelyn Dickson, took eighth and were named to the women’s All-America First Team.

McMillan and Daniel Carney received second-team All-America honors after finishing 13th and 15th in the 5,000m, respectively. Andrea Stapleton-Johnson was named to the women’s All-American Second Team after tying for 15th in the high jump.

The final NCAA Division I Program of the Year standings will be released at the end of the outdoor track and field season. The current standings for the Program of the Year can be found on the USTFCCCA website, as well as the complete 2018 All-American list.